ZTD Office

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Move your email to ZTD Office

Copy your old mail and folders into your new mailbox with a free email app. Your old email keeps working while you do it, and your old provider’s password never leaves your computer.

The idea is simple: add your old account and your new ZTD Office mailbox to the same email app, then copy the folders from one to the other. We use Thunderbird here because it’s free, works on Windows, Mac and Linux, and signs in to Gmail and Microsoft 365 safely. Outlook and Apple Mail work the same way if you already use them.

Do this once for each mailbox. A few thousand messages usually take minutes; years of mail with large attachments can take a few hours, so start it when you can leave the computer on.

Before you start

  • Your ZTD Office mailbox exists: your admin creates it in the control panel, and you have its address and password.
  • You can sign in to your old email.
  • Your old mailbox fits in the new one. Every ZTD Office mailbox has 15 GB; check your old provider’s storage page if you’re close.
  • Don’t point your domain at ZTD Office yet. Copy first, switch later (Point your domain), then copy anything that arrived in between.

1. Add your old account to Thunderbird

  1. Install Thunderbird and open it. It asks to set up an account (or use ☰ → Account Settings → Account Actions → Add Mail Account).
  2. Enter your name, your old email address and password, and choose Continue.
  3. Choose IMAP if Thunderbird offers IMAP or POP3. For Gmail and Microsoft accounts a sign-in window from Google or Microsoft opens: sign in there, including your two-step code if you use one.
  4. Wait until your folders appear on the left and the inbox has loaded.

2. Add your ZTD Office mailbox

Add a second account the same way, with your new address and password. If Thunderbird doesn’t find the settings on its own, choose Configure manually and enter:

Email app settings
SettingValue
UsernameYour full email address, like sarah@yourbusiness.co.uk
PasswordYour mailbox password (or an app password, see below)
Incoming mail (IMAP)mx1.ztdoffice.com, port 993, SSL/TLS
Outgoing mail (SMTP)mx1.ztdoffice.com, port 587, STARTTLS, sign in with the same username and password
Calendar (CalDAV) and contacts (CardDAV)Server mx1.ztdoffice.com, same username and password

Two-factor sign-in on your mailbox? Email apps can’t ask for the code, so they need an app password instead of your normal one. Create one in webmail under Settings → Security and use it in the app.

3. Copy your folders

  1. In the old account, open a folder (start with Inbox).
  2. Click a message, then press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on a Mac) to select them all.
  3. Right-click the selection, choose Copy To, then your ZTD Office account and the matching folder. To keep your own folders, first create them in the new account (right-click the account → New Folder).
  4. Repeat for Sent and every folder you want to keep. Copying leaves the old mail where it is, so nothing is lost if you stop halfway.
  5. When it’s finished, compare the message counts of each folder (right-click → Properties).

Gmail and Google Workspace

  • Gmail’s labels show up as folders, and its own folders are under [Gmail]: Sent Mail, All Mail, Drafts and so on. Copy Sent Mail into your new Sent folder.
  • A message with two labels is in two folders, so it’s copied twice. That’s expected.
  • If you archive mail in Gmail, archived messages without a label are only in All Mail. In that case copy All Mail into a new folder called Archive instead of copying the label folders, so you get every message once.
  • On Google Workspace, your Google admin can turn off IMAP for the organisation. If Thunderbird can’t connect, ask them to allow it while you move.

Microsoft 365, Outlook.com and Exchange

  • Thunderbird signs in with a Microsoft window. Some organisations turn off IMAP or sign-in from other apps; if that happens, ask whoever manages your Microsoft 365 to allow it while you move.
  • If you use classic Outlook on Windows, you can do the same there instead: add your ZTD Office mailbox as an IMAP account (File → Add Account, settings above), then drag folders, holding Ctrl to copy rather than move.

Web hosts and other providers

  • Most hosting companies (cPanel, Plesk, 123-reg, GoDaddy, IONOS and others) offer IMAP. Their help pages list the server name; it’s often mail. followed by your domain.
  • If your old account only offers POP3, the app downloads mail to your computer instead. You can still copy it into ZTD Office from there.

4. After you switch your domain

Once your domain points at ZTD Office (guide), new mail arrives in your new mailbox. Give it a day, then open your old inbox in Thunderbird once more and copy across anything that arrived during the switch. After that you can remove the old account from Thunderbird and cancel the old service when you’re ready.

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